Since this competition is ending on the end of this month, I have to paint this entire building in two days. Thankfully it’s been a weekend, and I’ve been able to put aside some time for my Mordheim Dice Tower. I have run into only a few small problems, but none were conquerable. Here are the pictures of today’s progress:

I painted all of the cement and debris with the same Dry Brushing Cement system I used on my last building (which I ended up using on the window bars as well). I chose to do a bright, barn red for the walls.

The construction of my Mordheim Dice tower is very close to done. I have created the Window Frames for all of the windows:

To create the thin sections of wood, I cut a ~2cm section of Popsicle stick, and then cut it lengthwise with a razor blade. I tried to cut it as thin as possible. This allowed me to create endless pieces of wood that were all the exact same width when I turned them sideways.

My next project was to create the sign that will hang over the front door:

I’m looking at calling this place “Ed’s Lodging” or “Motel 3” or something having to do with Lodging. Let me know if you have any ideas. (You got like 24 hours to tell me;))

I have added some fallen debris to the Mordheim roof. The idea is that when the comet crashed into the city, either the quaking earth or a shard of the comet caused the top section of the tower to collapse. Some of the rubble broke holes in the roof below, while some of the smaller pieces ended up staying on the roof. The rubble also doubles as places for models to sand on.

I put down a layer of water glue in the dice catcher/courtyard area, and poured some of my “Camp Cherry Valley” beach sand on it. I think it came out really well. Now I just need a good thick layer of paint to keep the sand in place. I really want to add some rubble to this area, but I don’t want to give the dice a possibility of not landing flat, so it’s got to be boring and flat.

As the month is coming to a close, I’m running out of time to finish my Dice tower. So I don’t even have enough time to write a good description. Here’s a picture blog of what I did tonight on my Dice Tower:

I painted most of the inside of the dice tower because I am planning on having a number of holes in the exterior that will allow you to see inside as the dice roll by. I have already cut one of the window holes all the way through. I needed to paint the inside of the tower before I put the roof on, so I went ahead and base painted everything I could.

I didn’t really have a plan as to how many windows I wanted to cut into this building. I have kind of decided that this building was going to be a tavern. It could definitely pass as a tavern, and since most taverns have a back alley/dump section which no windows face, I thought this was a perfect excuse not to make any more windows. =)

To frame the windows, I’m planning on cutting tiny strips of Popsicle sticks, which is going to be a royal pain… So the fewer windows the better.

Next step is the roof. I have decided to permanently glue the roof down. I was toying with the idea of using magnets to secure the roof, so I could remove it to fix anything that might go wrong on the inside of the building. I just have very grand plans for the roof, as I want to to be as playable as possible, and since players will not be allowed to go inside of it, making the roof playable is my only real choice. Now that I think about it though, the dice going through the dice tower make it rumble and shake a lot. So I may have to scratch that idea.

A wealthy city, like Mordheim used to be, must have some sort of system to dispose of waste. Mordheim must have had garbage cans and a garbage collector, wouldn’t you think? Anyway, after my last trip to the range (Front Sight), I grabbed 4-5 of the empty bullet holders, knowing there must be some way to use them in the city of Mordheim. After lots of thought, I found that they are almost the perfect size for Mordheim-sized garbage cans!

In this picture you can see the transition (from left to right) of Bullet holder to Mordheim garbage can. First, you need to cut one of the can’s out of the container with a razor blade. Once this is done, trim the edges around the top of the can. Then cut off the bottom of the can. If you cut straight enough, you can use the bottom as a lid. The can on the right side of the picture above still needs some work on the paint job, but it’s enough to give you an idea of where I’m going with this.

I also don’t have a bottom to these cans, but I’ll think of something by the time I need to put one on it’s side.

No anyone who plays Mordheim at my house won’t have a reason not to throw away all their garbage. =]
-Ashton Sanders

I’ve added the wooden baseboard and three corners around the outside of the building. I have also framed one of the windows. I have used Popsicle sticks for almost all of the wooden sections of this Mordheim Building. I have also used a couple stirring sticks. Some of the thin wood (like 3 sides of the window) was created by cutting a very tiny sliver from a Popsicle stick, and turning it sideways.

Here’s the front door:

Here’s the framed window. I forgot that I will need to remove the grating to add the black base paint behind the grating, so I will just have to do my best on this window to cover all of the white foam bubbles with black paint: